The world of Leopold Stokowski dips a toe into the great conductor’s Decca legacy, making this a useful introduction to Stokowski’s recordings for anyone curious to discover what made him so unique. The first two performances here are the most remarkable, coming from live concerts given in September 1972 at the Prague House of Artists, with Stokowski conducting the Czech Philharmonic. First is the most celebrated of all Stokowski transcriptions, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. It’s followed by an equally famous orchestral arrangement by the conductor, Rachmaninov’s C-sharp minor Prelude Op. 3 No. 2. Amazingly, as these accounts prove, Stokowski could transform any orchestra–regardless of its ethnic sonority–to conform to his own uniquely personal sonic vision, the so-called “Stokowski Sound”.
Certainly these Prague performances are arresting, but no less valuable are the remaining examples of Stokowski’s work, all of which were recorded at London’s acoustically impressive (but now alas long closed) Kingsway Hall. This was the mid- to late 1960s, the era of Decca’s then revolutionary Phase-4 stereo, which will be remembered by LP enthusiasts with a mixture of astonishment and exasperation. These CD transfers don’t eliminate all the false-balance problems of Phase-4, but at least orchestral perspectives in Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries is pretty believable, and Stokowski’s June 1969 account of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is thrilling. As for the rest, it’s all typical Stokowski fare, but neither British orchestra, nor indeed the Czech Philharmonic, ever matched the richly-upholstered sonority of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski’s charge for more than a quarter of a century. This is a useful compilation disc; some of it is vintage Stokowski at his best, but don’t forget that there are state-of-the-art digital recordings of Stokowski transcriptions, including a very fine one by Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra on EMI. [2/17/2001]
